Legislature(2019 - 2020)CAPITOL 106
03/28/2019 09:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Alaska Board of Education & Early Development Annual Report | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
PRESENTATION: Alaska Board of Education & Early Development
Annual Report
[Contains discussion of HB 24]
CHAIR STEVENS announced that the only order of business would be
an Annual Report presentation by Alaska Board of Education &
Early Development.
9:02:10 AM
JAMES FIELDS, Chair, State Board of Education & Early
Development, Department of Education & Early Development (EED)
explained that he would be summarizing a PowerPoint
presentation, titled "State Board of Education and Early
Development Report to the Alaska State Legislature." Mr. Fields
began his presentation by introducing the members of the State
Board of Education and Early Development then reading the
board's mission statement: "An excellent education for every
student every day." His next point to the committee was to
share the board's five strategic priorities: "Amplify student
learning"; "Inspire tribal and community ownership of
educational excellence"; "Modernize the education system";
"Ensure excellent educators"; and "Promote safety and well-
being." Mr. Fields shared a list of measurable goals: "Support
all students to read at grade level by the end of third grade";
"Increase career, technical, and culturally relevant education
to meet student and workforce needs"; "Close the achievement gap
by ensuring equitable educational rigor and resources";
"Prepare, attract, and retain effective education
professionals"; and "Improve the safety and well-being of
students through school partnerships with families, communities,
and tribes He discussed some highlights from page 4 of his
presentation focusing on the need for world language expertise
in the classroom.
9:05:29 AM
MR. FIELDS moved to page 8 of the presentation and highlighted a
portion of the page titled, "School Safety Program. In his
explanation he stated, The only expectation parents have for
public education that is greater than that it provide every
student with an excellent education every day, is that it keep
their children safe at school each and every day.
9:06:15 AM
MR. FIELDS read the final paragraph at the bottom of page 9 of
the presentation, which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Alaska's Education Challenge established three
priority strategies to advance its commitment to
"Cultivate Safety and Well-Being". They include
increasing the implementation of trauma-engaged
practices in schools, increasing positive school
climate, and increasing direct access to school-based
nursing and counseling services for all students.
DEED [Department of Education and Early Development]
has partnered with the Council of Chief State School
Officers and the Education Northwest Comprehensive
Center to create formal goals and action steps to
implement these priority strategies between now and
2025.
9:06:55 AM
MR. FIELDS directed attention to page 11, titled "Implementing
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). He shared that the Act
was approved by the U.S. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, then
highlighted several parts of the Act for the committee. Mr.
Fields summed up his presentation by sharing a table on page 15
showing 4-year graduation rates increasing from approximately 68
percent in 2011 to approximately 78 percent in 2018.
9:09:26 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked how the goals and projects of the State
Board of Education & Early Development could be achieved with
the governor's budget cuts to DEED.
MR. FIELDS replied that he saw an opportunity to continue to
move Alaska's education challenges forward, but without a
formalized budget he could only commit to doing his best.
9:11:07 AM
SENATOR BIRCH inquired whether Mr. Fields was aware of testimony
from a prior meeting that indicated between 50 and 75 percent of
funding for education goes towards the classroom. He asked
whether Mr. Fields had looked into the difference.
MR. FIELDS replied that he had not looked specifically at those
numbers.
9:12:34 AM
SENATOR BEGICH commented that the board is independent and is
charged with writing its own budget. He then asked whether the
board intended to write its own budget next year instead of
having the budget presented to it by the governor.
MR. FIELDS replied that he was recently presented with a memo
from Luann Weyhrauch, Assistant Attorney General, that stated
the board's vote was simply symbolic whether it approves a
budget or not. He said it was the Office of the Governor that
crafts the actual budget. Mr. Fields continued that it was up
to the board whether to vote on the budget, but if a vote was
symbolic, the board had no real way to affect the budget.
SENATOR BEGICH explained that he had requested a copy of the
memo but had not been given one. He then asked, "If it just
symbolic, why do we have a board of education?
9:16:16 AM
KEITH HAMILTON, Ph.D., First Vice Chair, State Board of
Education & Early Development, Department of Education & Early
Development, replied to Senator Begich by explaining the board
has been asked to "check off" the DEED budget during his time on
the board. Dr. Hamilton read a line from the memo from Luann
WeyRauch that read, Such a vote would solely be a symbolic
statement in light of the governor's responsibility under the
Alaska constitution." He went on to say he wished the board had
more input into the process, but it was not given that
opportunity.
9:18:09 AM
SENATOR BEGICH discussed a time when he was in a position to ask
a governor to allow his committee to exercise the committee's
responsibility or to ask the committee to leave. He asked that
the State Board of Education & Early Development, exercise
direction, provide the legislature guidance, and continue to do
so even in the face of resistance.
DR. HAMILTON replied that the State Board of Education & Early
Development was one of the DEED commissioner's supervisory
groups. He explained that once the commissioner has a budget
the board would encourage him to work and succeed with whatever
funding was allocated.
9:21:33 AM
CHAIR STEVENS explained that the committee looks to the State
Board of Education & Early Development for leadership and that
hearing the actions of the board called symbolic was shocking.
He offered his understanding that there were concerns around the
table about how the board was being treated. He stated, Im a
littler disappoint in where we are as a state, at this point, if
that is the case.
9:22:32 AM
SENATOR HUGHES commented that she would like to see more dollars
channeled toward classrooms and implored the board to trim money
from expenses outside of the classroom.
9:25:34 AM
MR. FIELDS agreed that classroom funding was important and
discussed using positive peer pressure to influence school
districts to keep funding in the classroom.
9:27:27 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND explained that the funding for education was
secure for the next fiscal year unless the legislature decided
to make a change. She continued by explaining that she had read
a great deal about the transparency of the State Board of
Education & Early Development but was not impressed with how
little information had been forthcoming from recent board
minutes. Representative Drummond commented that if the State
Board of Education & Early Development's involvement in the
budget process is strictly symbolic then DEED needs to become
more involved in the budget process. She hoped the board would
look at the impact of fewer adults in schools and the effects on
safety of the students. She continued by saying she was
concerned about the ability of school districts to prepare,
attract, and maintain effective education professionals. She
concluded her comments by stating she hoped the board would take
a much larger role in the development of a budget next year.
9:32:39 AM
CHAIR STEVENS read from a letter dated March 27, to Dr. Michael
Johnson, from Luann WeyRauch, Assistant Attorney General, as
follows:
Under the Act, and the Alaska Constitution, the
creation of a budget proposal for submittal to the
legislature is the responsibility of the governor not
the department or the state board. At the time the
governor has prepared and submitted a budget to the
legislature, the budget proposal is under the control
of the governor, not the state board. The state board
certainly has the authority in its discretion to take
a vote approving or disapproving the governor's
budget. Such a vote would be solely a symbolic
statement in light of the governor's responsibility
under the Alaska constitution and the Act.
CHAIR STEVENS stated, We look for you for leadership, and
leadership is never easy.
9:34:15 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY commented that the legislature and the board are
the advocates for the children. She continued by saying "what
we do and what we legislate, impacts every child's day." She
asked what the findings were on a safety gap-analysis conducted
by DEED during the past year.
9:38:44 AM
MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph,D, Commissioner, Department of Education and
Early Development, offered his appreciation to both the
committee and the board for the opportunity to listen to the
interaction between the two bodies. He went on to address
Representative Story's question regarding the gap analysis DEED
conducted. He explained that the analysis was anecdotal and had
been done a few years ago and a new analysis was recently
completed for comparison.
9:40:16 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked the board to look at the high cost of
energy in rural school districts and to propose what it thinks
the vision for education should be.
9:41:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK said that historically the state
schoolboard's proposal put forward for the budget had been
respected. He explained that the memorandum (memo) stating
that the boards budgetary power is symbolic caused him to look
up the budgetary and fiscal authority of the state schoolboard
and DEED commissioner. Representative Tuck sai, the
commissioner has the responsibility and authority for the
preparation and execution of the budget and the other fiscal
affairs of the department subject to the approval of the board.
He suggested he would be doing more research and respected the
roles of the commissioner and the board.
9:44:31 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND commented that the line in the memo that read
"the responsibility and authority of the commissioner for the
preparation and execution of a budget and for the other fiscal
affairs of the department"; she continued by explaining that
it is not for the foundation formula, base student allocation,
or any other funding. Representative Drummond explained that
fiscal impacts are always referred to as being to the
department, not to the classrooms in the over 500 schools in
Alaska. She went on to say the department has taken many cuts
in the last few years and could not continue to provide the top-
level service they had been providing to school districts if
they were to endure additional cuts.
9:46:28 AM
SENATOR BIRCH suggested that the board look at health care costs
during its upcoming retreat to address extraordinary increases
in costs.
9:47:40 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO questioned why the board needed a statute to
weigh in on whether it support or do not support the governors
proposed education budget.
9:48:15 AM
MR. FIELDS explained that he could only give his opinion. He
followed up by saying he believed the founders of the state
intended for the board to be non-political. He continued by
sharing his concern that with the legislature having one opinion
regarding the budget and the governor having another, the board
could become a political pawn if it decided to take a vote on
the governor's proposed budget.
9:50:27 AM
CHAIR STEVENS replied that it was problematic, and the
legislature looked to the board for leadership. He stated that
Mr. Fields had not been forthcoming about the budget. He
continued by saying that long ago he decided to do the right
thing, and if he got thrown out of office for doing the right
thing, so be it. He finished his comments by saying he believed
the board needed to do the right thing.
9:51:05 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO observed that the State Board of Education &
Early Development is comprised of the only Alaskans that don't
have an opinion regarding the budget proposed by the governor.
9:51:30 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND related that the she had heard from hundreds
of Alaskans around the state and estimated that 95 percent of
them were opposed to the governor's budget, particularly in the
area of education.
9:52:54 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK said (indisc. technical difficulties). He
stated, were all in this together and we do need to hear from
each other, and we do need to have the expected leadership rise
up.
9:53:08 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked Mr. Fields about the need to support
language immersion programs and his thought on HB 24.
9:54:08 AM
MR. FIELDS answered that the presentation explained that the
board would like language immersion programs and HB 24 would
only widen the options for schools.
9:54:55 AM
SENATOR BIRCH asked Mr. Fields if he would like to introduce the
board members.
MR. FIELDS introduced board members who had been sitting in the
audience.
9:56:35 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY encouraged the State Board of Education & Early
Development to meet with the Association of Alaska School
Boards.
9:57:57 AM
SENATOR HUGHES commented that she respected Mr. Fields opinion
that the board remain non-political.
9:59:08 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY expressed the sentiment that student achievement
and communication is important and encouraged the board to
consider a communications plan during its retreat.
10:00:45 AM
MR. FIELDS expressed appreciation for the committee and their
comments.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 State Board of Education Report to Legislature.pdf |
HEDC 3/28/2019 9:00:00 AM |
|
| State Board Members - Education and Early Development.pdf |
HEDC 3/28/2019 9:00:00 AM |